He doesn't seem to be so much interested in crushing the bubble as scooping it up towards him... and now that jagged mouth is opening again, drinking in the sea, sucking down water and hummingbirds, and, if possible, Josh, into his maw.

*Josh doesn't seem concerned; he's concentrating again, a brilliant shimmer of light and heat growing between his hand and hook. Plumes of steam burst from the walls of the bubble to join it, seething with lightning, and static discharges crawl over his hair and skin. At the same time, the heat of the water around the bubble moves, focusing between it and Locaha's maw, flash-vaporizing seawater to shove the bubble away from the jagged chasm.

Between one eyeblink and the next, the ball of plasma ignites, violet light blazing brighter than even Josh's aura -- and he simply lets it go, allowing it to fall free of the bubble, protected by a dense shell of air. Caught in the backblast of steam, it's shoved towards the open mouth of the god.*

He gulps it down, and for a brief moment it disappears into all-consuming darkness -- the only light left comes from Josh himself.

*and Josh smiles, and raises his hand.

and the pressure holding that ball of nitrogen plasma vanishes, unleashing the power and fury of a tiny star inside Locaha's belly.*

The darkness explodes into sound and brilliant light. The sea boils instantly, erupting from Locaha in torrents of superheated fog, tearing him apart, blasting his wings open, propelling you up and out. It's impossible to see just what becomes of the God of Death; he's lost in the blinding, deafening rush of cloud and white energy as you're thrown toward the surface.

*riding that wave of steam and energy, keeping steady, and clawing for open air as soon as he breaks the surface*

You burst through the surface and the light remains -- through the rising clouds of steam you can see the sun, nearly at its zenith. Waves wash outward from the pleat at the point of your emergence, but nothing else follows you out of the sea... and for the moment, the world is mostly a blur of brightness.

*just going to hover for a moment, breathing hard -- even at the height of his powers in a dream, that was no easy fight.

but damn, that felt good.*

Slowly, as the fog clears, you can make out the islet below you -- it must have been swamped, but your wards held, and the survivors are waving up to you -- and there's a canoe on the horizon, approaching far more quickly than it should under human power.

*landing on the island, then, as the wards fade; he barely manages to stay standing, but you know, whatever*

Daphne runs over to you and slips a hand under your elbow. "Maybe you ought to sit down."

That canoe is still skimming through the water toward you, with Mau in the stern.

*sitting down is only mostly voluntary, but he does, yes, nodding gratefully to Daphne*

She helps guide you down and then kneels beside you, tucking her skirt under her knees. "He'll be here in a moment, and then we'll go. But I have something for you."

She presses her palm over the back of your hand and strength flows into you; life and warmth, carried on a sensation of buoyancy and powered by deep, abiding love.

*...ducks his head and smiles*

Thanks.

"I should be the one thanking you. He's substantially less impossible about some things since you turned up."

The fog is clearing, blown away by a clean sea breeze, and the sky is a perfect blue.

*looking up at that, the last battle-tension leaving him*

I try.

"And a good job you do, too."

The canoe beaches itself on the little island, and Daphne and the rest of the crowd... goes. They are simply no longer there. But Mau is leaping down onto the sand and running towards you, a look of wonder on his face.

*waves at him*

Hey.

He skids up and drops to his knees in the sand beside you.

"Hey yourself! What happened here? I was running, and then... everything changed."

...I'm pretty sure I won.

He stares at you in blank incomprehension.

"Won... what?"

Against Locaha.

His eyes widen.

"You fought Locaha?!"

I wasn't going to just let him kill everyone on the island.

There's a beat, filled with Mau being utterly flabbergasted.

"...you did tell me you were going to help me punch him in the face."